Protector
by BlueBerryBoo
Summary: Starfire is a protector. But she also has a protector. "Friends... this is Ryand'r."
1. Chapter 1

It was like any other "Titans Go!" command. There was a new criminal in town, destructing infrastructure, having his way with citizens, freely taking merchandise from Jump shops; petty disturbance, really. It was just a criminal, a faceless, insignificant criminal, like most of the criminals they've faced, time and time again. It was merely routine.  
The Team had been in the middle of a midday movie, and it had finally been Starfire's turn to choose the movie (although she did have her suspicions that her turn had been skipped several times for reasons she didn't quite understand.) She'd chosen The Notebook; Earth romance still mystified her, and if she was planning to have one, she would need to do her research. The first thing she'd learned even before they'd started the movie, was that boys weren't particularly comfortable with the concept, they had all collectively groaned when she made her movie pick. She didn't really understand why.  
They were about 20 minutes into the movie where the star-crossed couple were slow dancing in the middle of the empty intersection when the movie had been interrupted by the Titan distress alarm. In a hurry to return to the movie, Starfire zipped through the air. She would quickly 'kick the behind' of this criminal, and put him in jail for… being a criminal… doing bad… of some sort or form. Actually, she had left Titans Tower before she actually found who the criminal was and what exactly he had been doing. It didn't matter, as soon as she was finished with this, she could return home and find out how it was that two people that were such opposites, could be so drawn to each other.  
Starfire had arrived before her teammates. She could see the offender in the far distance indicated by the huge crowd of concerned Jump citizens, at the intersection, half a kilometre away,. The city mischief was merely an adolescent– in fact if you looked closer at his face, it suggested he was even younger; in his early teenage years or late preteens. He sat in a rather relaxed position on top of a traffic light, one leg hanging off and the other propped up on the horizontal bar of the traffic light. He looked like he was eating something, or some things. His chest was bare and though it was hefty; sculpted with sinew, he still appeared thin and youthful. He wore tightly fitted shorts that went to his mid-thigh and were royal purple, with similar ankle length boots, with metal arm bands. Something about him seemed unearthly yet familiar. When Starfire was then only a few metres away she saw that he had skin that was a shiny gold, with vibrant red hair, relatively short but spiked upwards in the front. It was not until she saw his eyes that she froze.

The rest of the team had just arrived. Car traffic had been halted as the other traffic lights in the intersection looked burnt out, in a literal sense, with smoke surrounding the area and some individual cars looking crushed or dented. There looked like there were almost footprint dents on the hoods of all the cars that led to the traffic light.  
Cyborg was the first to communicate with the offender. "Hold it right there! You best be ready to pay for all that grub, man!"  
The boy slowly turned his head to Cyborg, as his voice was louder than all the chattering of the pointing citizens. Testing the patience of the team, in response, the boy dropped one of the chip bags, it falling but being light enough that it drifted in the air and even slapped onto Beastboy's face. The boy slyly smiled, still eyeing Cyborg.  
"Don't say I didn't warn ya." Fed up, Cyborg's arm weaponized, pointed towards the fugitive. It was clear a blast was on its way.  
"NO!" yelled Starfire. But it was too late; the ray beam was already initiated.  
The Tamaranian zipped from where she was on the ground and got herself in the air, between the blast and the boy. Starfire was blasted for at least five seconds before Robin rammed into Cyborg, toppling him over.  
Out of midair, she fell and crashed into the pavement. The team quickly made their way toward where she lay.  
"…Star?" Cyborg said rubbing his head from the fall he'd just taken.  
The mischief also looked slightly puzzled from where he sat. He made what looked like a slow motion leap down from the top of the traffic light, landing skillfully beside her sprawled body. Not one to be easily damaged, her eyelids slowly fluttered open.  
"Star, you okay?" Robin approached her from two metres away. He halted midway. In front of him stood the boy, and by his subtle body language, he was being defensive over her. He bared his teeth at the Boy Wonder. Robin bitterly glared in response, snarling. Both young men stood, non-verbally threatening the other with erect postures and disapproving frowns. Robin didn't like how the situation must have looked to him; that the Titans were the bad guys for hurting Star.

"X'hal…" Starfire murmured. Their attention diverted as both of them turned around to see Starfire standing, staring at the mischief.  
The boy stepped towards her. She reached out one hand that was placed on his shoulder, the other held the side of his face. She examined the boy's face, as he was just as focused on hers.  
He took a step back. "Koriand'r." he whispered.  
She looked just as stunned.

The sound of Robin's staff falling onto the ground caught her attention. She glanced at her baffled teammates. She cleared her throat.

"Friends… this is my brother."


	2. Chapter 2

"Friends… this is my brother. Ryandr."

Cyborg took the initiative to introduce the team. He stepped forward and let  
out his hand for a handshake. "Hey man, look, sorry for getting off on the  
wrong –"

Ryand'r walked right past him. Behind Cyborg, was Raven, with which he engaged  
in lip contact. She knew why, but that didn't mean she didn't turn pink,  
nonetheless. After he pulled away, he spun around to face Cyborg once again.

"If you ever take such measures to hurt my sister again, I will surely introduce  
you to Tamaranian brutality." He barred his teeth, dramatically decreasing the space between Cyborg's  
petrified face and his own. Being this close, however, revealed how young the  
boy actually looked; his words being at least twice his age.

"Ryand'r." Starfire she spoke with authority. "It was just a misunderstanding, brother. These are my friends." she gave a faint smile.

He reluctantly backed off. Cyborg quietly exhaled in relief.


	3. Chapter 3

She looked at him, slim yet muscular; grown. The sorrow was evident in her voice when she said, "You were only a child when I left."  
He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "_You_ were only a child when you left." And at that memory, they both searched into each other's faces to find resemblance between the two crying children from the memory and the two sovereign adolescents that stood right now.  
"How did you find me?" she asked.  
"When I visited home, Galfor informed me that you were on this peculiar cerulean planet. I commenced with regions near the equator, where I figured you would be the strongest. I stopped here for a meal. X'hal. Their food is bitter." Nearing the end, she was reminded of his child self, who would always complain about the food that was served to him, even living in luxury in the castle.

They were standing abreast, carving the Tamaranian equivalence of earth doodles, into the stone wall of the cliff. They were on an island, water surrounding them on all sides.  
She laughed. "I see you still refuse to wear your chest piece."  
"I see you still refuse to wear your crown." He replied, just as witty. But she looked down, insecure.  
"I do not blame you. I would do the same." He quickly added.  
She smiled. "Mother and Father would be proud, yes? Three heirs to the throne and none of them even want it."  
He laughed, a snickering child laugh.

She stopped carving. She turned her head to face her little brother. While the war raged on outside between Tamaran and the Citadel, Komand'r juvenilely waged war on the noble siblings, growing up. She had always looked up to her elder, headstrong sister and so she often went along with her cruel plans, even if she wasn't sure if she agreed. Starfire remembered a rotten trick they played on little Ryand'r, of which she still felt guilt until this day. Koriand'r's job was to tell Ryand'r that his parents needed him outside.  
"but I am forbidden to go outside, sister." he said, cocking his head sideways, in curiosity.  
"Um…" Starfire hesitated, considering telling him the truth.  
"Ryand'r! My dearest son, would you join me outside, darling?" The massive golden front doors were flapped fully open, Komand'r hiding behind one of the doors, between the wall and door. She skillfully imitated their mother's voice. Komand'r was always the best at picking up languages, slang even, as well as doing impressions.  
"Coming, mother!" he waddled his way outside, with short stubby legs.  
Upon entering the outdoors, Komand'r quickly started to shut the doors close, but needed Koriand'r's assistance. "Help! Hurry!" The two girls them slammed the doors, leaving the youngest of the siblings outside. The children of the Royal family were prohibited from going outside, but what they were not mature enough to fully understand was that the war outside the castle walls brought massacre and bloodshed to Tamaran. Little Ryand'r had often overheard his parents discussing about Tamaranian children that were kidnapped by the Citadel and forced into tormenting servitude. Something as simple as being outside; even the royal children were not safe from Citadel abductions.

Ryand'r piercingly shrieked. **"Let me in! Let me in please!"** In terror, the child screamed an agonizing high pitch scream. The four year old raged, banging violently on the massive doors, and could be heard jumping up and down, sobbing vehemently.  
**"Please! Please help!'' **his child voice gave an ear-splitting and crying wail.  
Komand'r muffled her childish giggle with her little hands.  
**  
"PLEASE KORIAND'R!"** little Ryand'r screamed, his voice starting to run out and become throaty and chalky dry. Soon his voice could hardly be heard at all, just painfully almost-muted screams.  
Komand'r seemed to find it entertaining, but her sister couldn't understand why. Was she not worried about him because he was safe from danger? Was she going to let him in right afterwards?  
A quarter of an hour passed and Komand'r still seemed exhilarated, rambling to her about how she'd cleverly thought of the idea, how she practiced imitating mother, and how she had so many ideas for tomorrow. Koriand'r nodded and tried to pretend to support her, waiting until she left.

Then she quickly and quietly opened the doors from the inside, for her little brother. He was curled up hiding his soaked face in between his legs, facing the doors. He was trembling to his bones. Once he'd realized the doors were opened, he'd looked up at his sister, his eyes wide and pleading. He grabbed onto her leg and hugged it, sobbing so much, the intervals weren't long enough for breaths.  
From that day on, at the age of nine years old, Koriand'r made a vow to be her brother's protector.

Two years later, her father sent her to slavery for the Citadel, in exchange of a promise for peace. She remembered that day. She childishly cried and begged to stay, yelling "Father, please! I do not wish to go –_please Father_!" It was a pathetic plead, not one acceptable from a princess. At that moment, she remembered looking over at her brother who hid behind his mother. His eyes were petrified and confused. He didn't understand. Why did they have to take her away? Upon looking at his face, she realized; she had to be strong for him. She suddenly stopped wailing, wiped her eyes and walked to her brother. She put a hand on his tiny shoulder.  
"I will be back, I promise." she said and tried to smile. She swallowed then she put her wrists together behind her back and submitted herself to her new masters.

"I was supposed to protect you." she murmured to herself mostly. "But I left you on your own." Her throat started to tighten and voice started to shake.  
He looked down to the floor. The child in him surfaced. "It was never your fault. You protected me through the hardest years, when I could not fend for myself. When Komand'r left, there was no longer anything you had to protect me from. When I became of age, I left to train with the Warlords of Okaara, like you and Komad'r did. I could never be the warrior or the politician that you both were. But I found a competence for communications science. The Omega Men have even offered to recruit me, since then."  
Her face lit up. "Brother, what glorious news!"  
She looked at her blood brother. He was no longer the weeping, reliant little boy, but he was the one who had tried to protect her, earlier today. She looked at his strong well-built body; the body of a young man and no less. She was proud.

But that young man was still a boy in many ways. He smirked and picked up a rock from the ground.  
He tossed the stone several times in one hand. "Will you join me in a game?"  
Despite circumstance, Ryand'r was the most gleeful of the siblings, his face changing dramatically when he smiled, showing his full set of big white teeth. He was always the most playful, and she was happy that at the least hadn't changed.  
She smirked. She never won any games against her eldest sister, but a game against Ryand'r almost wasn't fair to him.

With highly esteemed Tamaranian strength, he whipped up the rock to the sky, exceeding the height of any skyscraper in Jump City, and the brother and sister shot up the sky, in attempts to be the first to grasp the rock. Starfire was the one who caught it, then they both free-fell out of the sky, overjoyed at each other's company. Once they were an inch from the ground, they quickly froze and hovered flat on their backs. Then they did it all over again, for hours.


	4. Chapter 4

At dusk, they went inside Titan Tower where at last, one person appreciated Starfire's cooking. He scarfed the interesting- looking cuisine, like the Titans had seen Starfire do plenty of times before. Ryand'r's face may've been grown but it was still boyish. He acted older than his age, being Royalty, but his youth was revealed most when he ate. He was suddenly very similar to any earth preteen boy that ate as much as the Titan males did.  
"Mhmm…" he said with his mouth delightfully full. "Brilliant." he said, upon swallowing.  
Starfire couldn't believe it; she practically glowed. The rest of the Titans couldn't help but feel guilty for making her feel bad about her cooking once they'd seen how much it meant to her.  
"More?" she asked ecstatic.  
He nodded enthusiastically.  
At the same time, the Titans were fascinated that it genuinely appealed to him.

Once he was finished, he grabbed a towel and wiped his face. He stood up.  
He made his way to the Titans who were standing side by side. He faced Cyborg, first.  
"I apologize for my hostility." he said. "I would appreciate it however, if you took more care. I am unknowledgeable of earth culture, but on my planet, it is considered impolite to senselessly blast people."  
Cyborg nervously chuckled, "Huh, yeah.. heh sorry. It won't happen again." Ryand'r nodded.  
He faced Robin next. "Please take care of my sister." Robin gave a small smile and nodded.  
"You are leaving?'' Starfire asked, the heartbreak evident in her wavering voice.  
He turned to face her. With the look in her eyes, he wished he didn't have to.  
''But we have only just found each other.'' She subtly pleaded.  
He smiled, hoping it'd make her feel better.  
''If anyone understood duty calling, it would be you, sister.''  
Seeing that his decision was final, a tear made itself known on her face.  
Robin had stepped in, with his hand outstretched. In the palm of his hand was a yellow honorary Titan communicator.  
''You can reach her anytime, with this, as well as the rest of us Titans, if there's anything you need.'' Robin said diplomatically.  
Ryand'r looked down at it for a few moments. ''I thank you.'' He finally said, accepting the device.  
He looked at his sister once again, who was avoiding his gaze, looking disheartened at the ground.  
He wrapped his arms around her, placing one hand on the small of her back and the other holding the back of her head.

She was angry, upset, and was going to reject his embrace, but she didn't know if she'd ever see him again. She wrapped her arms around him as well, and didn't hold back any of her Tamaranian strength in the embrace, with no fear of crushing his bones.  
He kissed her forehead, and murmured in her ear familiar but uncomforting words.

''I'll be back, I promise.'' he said.  
He let go too soon.

''Z'hal.'' he said directed to the Titans, fist pumping his chest and half bowing his head; a gesture they'd seen Galfor do once before.  
He left too soon, zipping through the Titans main room windows, shattering their windows, shattering her heart, all in the meantime.  
Behind her, Robin put his hand on her shoulder.  
''Now that you know where he'll be, you can find him whenever you –''  
She surprised them when she spoke.  
'' Ryand'r means Wildfire.'' she said softly. ''a wildfire is hard to contain, hard to follow and never stays in one place for long.''  
She looked down at the communicator Ryand'r had slipped into her hand, when he held her.


	5. Chapter 5

Cyborg flirtatiously whistled. Beastboy tauntingly wiggled his eyebrows. Whenever Raven walked through the shifting doors of the main room, she regretted it, this time being no different. She poured herself some tea, ignoring the two jester boys that smirked like crazy. She went back to her room.

Looking for a place of security and calm, she was not at all ready for it.  
She gasped. Then turned kettle hot red from her toes up to her forehead. "BEASTBOY!" she yelled from inside her room. She made them both shiver down to their bones.  
She flew out her room to the main room, hunting for the teenage boys. All she was met with was Robin eating a croissant. With it, he pointed out the door. "Jus- left" he mumbled, still chewing.  
She sped out into the Titan elevator up to the next floor, patrolling the hallways.  
"Look on the bright side, Raven!" she heard Cyborg's deep voice say, hearing him smile.  
"At least if humans don't work out for you, you could always hook up with an alien." she heard the chuckling voice from behind her. She made a 180 degree spin and raged towards the two misfits.  
"By Azarath, you're both dead."

That went down for a couple more minutes, which was all she really needed, being the efficient teacher she was. She resigned to her room once again, this time bracing herself. She took down the hundreds of printed pictures of Ryand'r taped on her walls. The last few she found, even behind her bed board.  
What was the big deal anyway?  
Why couldn't they just be a little mature _for once_. They all knew that Tamaranians kissed for language transfer. It was a known fact that it never meant anything to them. Her mind recalled the first time Starfire kissed Robin. It never meant anything…

On that note, she had one picture left, behind her bed board. She would take it off, later.

Author's note: I couldn't leave Raven alone for this because I knew that Cyborg and Beastboy couldn't possibly leave Raven alone for this !


	6. Chapter 6

To her, her friends were aliens. She soon realized however, that to the rest of the world, _she_ was the immigrant. Ryand'r made her feel normal.  
When she was with her brother, she felt as if she was in the castle once again. She felt esteemed by her brother, like when she was on Tamaran. She'd realized now, that was something that changed since then. She was no longer respected..  
In Tamaran, she was respected even at 9 years old. She was envied. She was recognized by her charm and princess civility and even wisdom. She was the heir to the Royal family. Even as a slave to the Citadel, she was recognized as one of importance.

On earth, she is not respected.  
She is not esteemed, is not envied, is not admired.  
How humans saw her was starting to become clear to her.  
She was pathetic.  
She was strange.  
She was confusing and difficult to understand.  
She was embarrassing; not understanding insults directed to her, or even how to use a toilet seat, at first.

But how was she to know, growing up in a different galaxy?  
Her brother had brought her back to the days. To the place; that she should've been right now. What would've she been if she'd never left? If she'd grown up in the castle, become Empress. Would she be happier? At least then, she'd be respected.  
Maybe not; she felt like a traitor for not returning.

She knew this feeling. Beastboy had described it to her before.  
She felt crummy.  
She stood on the Titan's roof.  
See, the Titans had something in common. When the Titans came together; they all wanted to be somewhere else, someone else than who they'd been before. Together, they avoided and tried to forget their old lives, and just be other people who fit in for once, even if it was only with each other.  
But Ryand'r brought her back to reality. What was she even doing here? Why hadn't she returned to Tamaran to take her rightful throne? This wasn't her home. This wasn't her family. She hardly knew these strangers yet she was living with them.

She remembered she had a choice. She could go home; her real home.  
She stood on the Titan's roof. She usually sat along the edge, her legs hanging, swinging. But today was different. It's been different ever since Ryand'r came. She stood on the roof, almost ready to do something. She wasn't totally sure of what.  
She could leave – but could she? She was feeling too sad; too crummy; too alone to find the lift to fly.  
She felt alone because she realized her friends couldn't understand how she was feeling, who she was, anything about her, really. She felt even more alone than usual, having her brother leave her as if seeing her again didn't make a difference in his life. As if he'd grown up and become a young man, living his whole life, without her. But what was upsetting, was that he did.  
It still broke her heart that her brother was the only family she really had left, and to him she meant nothing to him, anymore.

She would leave. But even if she could find the will to fly, would Tamaran accept her once again? She would take the ship. But how could she, without the other Titan's noticing?  
They couldn't catch her. She'd have to be swift –

"Star?"  
With guilty plans to run away in her head, she was that much more easily startled.  
She gasped in surprise, whirling around to face Robin who'd entered from the roof door.  
But she'd forgotten how close she was to the edge and tripped backwards.  
She shrieked a high- pitch scream, falling fast.  
He dove down after her, holding onto her waist.  
As they plunged down faster and faster, she was surprised he didn't reach into his belt. He didn't do anything, actually. They continued to fall.  
"Robin?" She looked up at his face. His eyes were slightly wider than usual, with an apologetic and contrite expression on his face.  
She was confused.  
She looked down to his waist, and gulped.  
He wasn't wearing his utility belt.  
"I'm sorry." he said. The reason he came up to the roof in the first place was to ask Starfire if she knew where his utility belt was.  
And then the thought occurred to her; that he had jumped, even though he knew he couldn't do anything.  
He jumped, so that she wouldn't have to fall alone.  
He was going to end his life, for the sole purpose of not letting her die alone.  
"Why –" she softly murmured.  
He quickly pulled her in closer and firmly wrapped his arms around her, sheltering her with his body as they fell nearing the ground.

She realized she had a choice. She would not let him die for her this way.  
She closed her eyes and tried to focus on uplifting thoughts. But she didn't think of flowers, or kittens or the laughter of children. She didn't think of the joy she had when her brother scarfed down her cooking. She thought about what had just happened.  
Robin knew he wouldn't make it through that fall. But he jumped nonetheless.  
He'd jumped for her, even when he really shouldn't have done so.  
And as she shot up the sky, soaring when they were four inches from the ground, it occurred to her that family wasn't so much those who shared the same blood as you, as it was those who shed their own blood for you.


End file.
